UNITED STATES
Aljazeera
Cristina LH Traina
It is indeed a difficult and confusing time for American Catholics.
Gathering last week at their annual fall assembly in Baltimore, Maryland, US Catholic bishops failed to pass “The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times”.
Spearheaded by Bishop Stephen E Blaire, the document was to “communicate the bishops’ concern for people hurt by the economy, especially the jobless and those living in poverty” and reiterate Catholic social justice teaching at the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops. It is difficult to immediately discern why.
Recent press around Catholic objections to the Health and Human Services mandate that insurance providers for religiously-affiliated hospitals and universities cover contraception might lead to an expectation that socially conservative bishops overruled social liberals.
In fact, the opposite may have been the case. During Tuesday’s discussion, much of the opposition seemed to come from bishops who thought the document was too tame.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.